BRILL

I bought this CD because I liked Fool's Journey and Brill is not a bad CD at all. The music is very well played and there are plenty of great passages. The performances by Par Lindh and Hasse Bruniusson are superb all round. However, the BIG problem with Brill is the guest vocalist John BoBo Bollenberg. He should stay away from the microphone for the health of our ears.

I just listened to this album and I agree with the previous review. This album contains lot of good and exciting musical ideas and the use of instruments is varied, from the folky instruments like a dulcimer to the bombastic keyboards like the Mellotron, Moog and Hammond. But the vocals sound far from mature: an obvious accent and they lack emotion and power. Incredible that such a good band with so many skillfull musicians decide to make use of two lead vocalists that fail to reach a decent level!

It seems to me that the star ratings on this album have been a little harsh to say the least - especially for a CD which contains such a wealth of excellent playing. Admittedly the vocals are not particularly strong - but to these ears not at all offensive and emminently prefferable to the wealth of growling on offer from so many bands currently. They are accented English, but that's not something I find especially distracting to listen to. Musically the New Groove Project offers some excellent compositions that are both classical and folk influenced - using a refreshing mix of acoustic instrumentation alongside the standard electric fare. The music doesn't fit quite into any of the standard sub-genres used on PA - in fact it reminds me very much of the blissfully non-formulaic music that characterised so much of the adventurous spirit of the seventies era of prog...without sounding like a clone of any the groups from that time. For the instrumental passages alone I would suggest this is would be a valuable addition to the prog collection of anyone who enjoys indiviual symphonic compositons, tinged with the customary Scandanavian hint of melancholy and infused with acoustic sensitivity.